Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Synopsis and Director's Note

- The play begins with a brawl between members of the Capulet and Montague households, two noble families of Verona.- Romeo, son of the Montagues has been rejected by his most recent crush, Rosaline. In an attempt to lift Romeo's spirits, his two friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, convince him to crash a party held by the Capulets.- The Capulet’s have arranged for their daughter, Juliet, to be married to the Prince’s kinsmen, Paris. - At the Capulet’s party, Romeo and Juliet meet and fall madly in love. During the balcony scene, they profess their love and arrange to get married.- Romeo visits his tutor, Friar Laurence, to ask him to join the lovers in a secret wedding, and Friar Laurence reluctantly agrees.- With the help of Juliet’s Nurse, Romeo and Juliet arrange to meet Friar Laurence and the marriage is performed. - Immediately after the wedding, Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, challenges Romeo to a duel. Mercutio takes Romeo’s place in the fight and is slain by Tybalt. - Romeo seeks revenge, and uses Mercutio’s sword to kill Tybalt.Romeo is banished to Mantua but before he leaves he and Juliet have their wedding night at last.- With the help of Friar Laurence, Juliet fakes her own death in order to escape the fate her parents have chosen for her, and to be reunited with Romeo. Her parents bury her thinking she is dead. - Friar Laurence sends Friar John to Mantua with a letter to Romeo explaining the plan, but Friar John is quarantined, and the letter never reaches Romeo - Romeo, alone in Mantua, receives word from his friend Balthasar that Juliet has died. - Romeo buys a deadly poison from an Apothecary and returns to Juliet’s tomb in Verona to commit suicide. When Romeo arrives at the Capulets’ tomb, he finds Paris there, who came to pay his respects to Juliet. Romeo kills Paris in the tomb, kisses Juliet, drinks the apothecary’s poison, and dies.- Friar Laurence enters a moment too late, and finds the dead Romeo in his wife’s arms. Juliet awakes from her coma, but sees that Romeo is dead. She finds Romeo’s dagger, and uses it to kill herself too.- The Capulets, Montagues, and Verona’s Prince enter the scene to find the dead bodies. The tragedy forces both families to reconcile their differences, and become friends once again.

For this interpretation of Shakespeare's most famous romance, we wanted to achieve a few goals:

- Find fun and innovative ways to stage this play so that its characters and themes are still accessible

- Keep the characters as fresh as the day they were written (over 400 years ago).

- Intertwine Shakespeare's original text with modern costumes, music, dance and props

In this production we made a blend of the classical with the contemporary; sword fights with characters wearing skinny jeans and clothes from H & M, a renaissance party with a contradance sequence, and timeless love stories told with modern forms of protection. There was even a top 40 radio song or two sung in the play. As a play, Romeo and Juliet is almost paradoxical in nature. The first half is a romping comedy full of fun, romance and jokes-our souls thrive as Romeo and Juliet fall in love and we laugh along with Mercutio and his friends. The second half takes a darker turn and morphs into a complete tragedy and we keenly feel the words and story moving through us as an audience.

Romeo and Juliet has been performed thousands of times over the centuries by countless actors. With this production we wanted the characters to be genuine and authentic, not just archetypes sculpted over time. Our actors brought their own creativity, experiences and imagination to this incredible story. We hope that Romeo and Juliet truly did fall in love for you, that the dynamics within the Capulet family were vivid and perhaps a little frightening, and that the ties of friendship and love throughout the play were as real for you as they have become for our cast and crew.